Keep the Chain

Last week's cover story on the goings-on at Ozen High School presented me with a unique fringe benefit: my very own hip-hop chain. Our art director Monica Fuentes had it made for the cover shoot, and after all the flicks were clicked, she dangled it before me and said it was mine to keep.

Aw, yeah, I thought. This is gonna be freakin' sweet.

I envisioned myself pimping it around town, misappropriating hip-hop culture in a cheeky, semi-ironic way, much like reporter Andrea Grimes did when she donned a grill for this article in the Dallas Observer, one of our sister papers. Sure, my fake alter-ego has sported fake bling before, but this was my chance for the real thing.

But there are three things that aren't gonna let me realize my half-baked aspirations. Three letters, actually. K, K and K.

The chain's medallion bears the logo of 3K, which, in Beaumont, at least, stands for the Koochie Kissing Klick. Plus Beaumont (and Houston, really) is right down the highway from Vidor, where three K's signify something different entirely.